“There is no coolness at all.” Extremals explain why they decided to give up bad habits

Extreme sports are often associated with teenage hobbies, small communities and after-school street parties. And also, alas, with cigarettes, e-cigarettes and alcohol. But we know for sure that these associations are wrong, because bad habits are hard to get along with sports. And even if you are not going to conquer the Olympic pedestal, the right lifestyle and taking care of your body can help you achieve great results. This is proved by top athletes. We talked to the best and found out why they decided to cut bad habits out of their lives.

Irek Rizaev

Irek is a BMX-rider and a participant of the Olympic Games. He is now 25 years old and has never tried cigarettes or alcohol.

Irek got into his sport, BMX freestyle, at the age of 11, but since his childhood he has been going with his mom on bicycle trips. At the time when Irek started skating, there were no coaches or special sections – so he and the guys just came to the local skatepark and enjoyed skating. This is how his hobby turned into a professional sport.

Irek Rizaev

BMX-rider, participant of the 2020 Olympics

Sport makes you realize that your body is under tremendous strain and you need to take care of it. Not to give unnecessary loads, but, on the contrary, to keep the body in the best possible condition through a healthy lifestyle. Because when you do professional sports, your body is the tool with which you work.

– I never drank, and it’s not just because of sports. Everyone says to me, “Yeah, you’re an athlete, I get it.” But I had this attitude from childhood, my parents brought me up that way. I realized that people have such bad habits at a conscious age. When I started to realize that everyone around me drinks and smokes, it was a shock for me.

I can’t count the times when I was offered a drink or a smoke. But I already knew then that it would do me no good and that I could live without it. When I was offered alcohol, told that I should relax, have fun, I always had an answer to that: I do it without auxiliary substances – I enjoy life. I can hang out and relax, and I don’t need alcohol for that at all. Although I can somehow understand the idea of alcohol, but cigarettes for me are a stupid bad habit, in which I can’t see any sense at all. That’s the reason why I never wanted to try it. Everyone used to scare me: “You’ll be 25 years old now, we know the type. Then you’ll try and fly.” But I had no such thoughts.

I see guys on sports grounds smoking cigarettes or electronic cigarettes. I would advise them to think about the question: why is it cool? Objectively – there are no pluses to smoking and coolness at all. At least, I haven’t found them for me. It’s more of a reverse story.

I try to eat right, eat less fast food – that’s my bad habit. And a lot of sweets, I guess (laughs). I try to limit myself in that.

Relatively recently I discovered healthy sleep. I’m not saying that I fall asleep at nine o’clock every day, but I try to sleep at least eight to nine hours a day so that my mind and body feel great.

A healthy body can produce high results. If you don’t have any health problems, there’s nothing stopping you from doing what you love. You probably don’t realize it at a young age, but you should be with your body all your life – and you certainly shouldn’t harm it.

And in order to choose what you like to do, you need to understand what you like to watch and try your hand at it. I think it’s important to just enjoy what you’re doing. If a certain sport brings you real pleasure, then it’s yours.

By the way, the portal has a search for a “Health Center” in your region. There you can get recommendations from specialists and undergo free annual examinations – you only need an MHI policy.

Sergei Vashtavaev

Sergei is now one of the top surfers in Russia. He also plunged headfirst into movies and became a film producer. A friend of Sergey’s always said: “To achieve something, you have to do something that does not exist in Russia, and be one of the first”. This is how life led our hero to surfing.

Now Sergey is 38 years old, he decided to give up bad habits himself.

Sergei Rashevaev

surfer, movie producer

A long time ago I saw an ad that in the Dominican Republic looking for instructors. There I started surfing regularly, lived by the ocean, met Zhenya Isakov (five-time world surfing champion. – Ed.).

– We were young guys: we were 20 years old, working as instructors. What do we do? Every night we sit with or without students, drinking wine or rum and coke, which is the main drink in the Dominican Republic. One evening we were having a drink and talking about how we wanted to take part in the championship to be held in Russia. An older man sat next to us and said: “Men, I used to wrestle – I know what sport is. But you are not sportsmen at all. You are sitting, drinking and talking about some upcoming competitions”.

We were indignant for the sake of appearances, but the next day we talked among ourselves and decided that this is really not how things are done. We wanted to progress, we wanted to get results at the competition, which was eight months away. So we really needed to change our approach. That’s how we got off alcohol.

I was about 23-24 years old when I suddenly got into the sport. Russian surfing wasn’t that developed yet. So we had to be “pioneers”, which took a lot of effort.

When you want to progress in sport, you demand more and more from your body. You start to feel where you ate too much, where you ate the wrong thing, where you didn’t sleep enough, where you didn’t rest. Now I monitor everything: I use special gadgets, constantly monitor my sleep and other parameters. I have all the statistics: inactive hours at the computer, hours of surfing. If I don’t exercise for a day or two, I get a kind of guilt. It’s a habit: I’ve been working out for almost 15 years and I can’t go without it anymore. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it any other way.

If we talk about vapes and e-juices, it’s easy to start using them, just take a drag and that’s it – that’s the whole point, really. That being said, the damage they do is enormous.

When you’re young, you feel like it’s always going to be like that. They tell you how harmful it is, but you don’t realize it. It is very difficult to use other people’s experience – everyone knows that “fools learn from their mistakes”. Everyone learns from their mistakes – it’s not about whether you are a fool or not.

We need to change the social environment so that alcohol and cigarettes are not a trend in the social circle. A lot of people come to it just because it makes you look more mature, cooler. When I started smoking, all the adults around me smoked – and it was totally hypocritical when they said you can’t do it. Why should you be allowed to? It didn’t suit me. In my case, sport – an activity that occupies you completely – helped.

The only option to give up bad habits is to come to it yourself. An activity that requires regular involvement will help: for example, freediving, where you will see how you are progressing if you haven’t smoked for a week. Well, or any sport, at least semi-professional, active.

Katya Voinova

Katya bought her first longboard after she accidentally came across pictures of girls with long boards on wheels. She thought they looked very cool and unusual – and at that moment she didn’t even realize that she would start learning tricks on a longboard and later become a world champion in longboard dansing and freestyle.

Katya, by the way, at the age of 24 has never tried smoking or drinking alcohol. She believes that ZOZH is really cool.

Katya Voynova

World Longboard Dancing and Freestyle Champion

The more and more active you are in sports, the more correct and healthy you want to “nourish” your body – this desire comes by itself, because junk food doesn’t give energy and the body gets tired faster.

– I always drink two glasses of water in the morning and start the day with fruit – this habit has been with me for more than ten years. I wouldn’t say I eat right during the day, but I really like this morning ritual.

In terms of food, I also try to consume less sugar and tend to replace sweets with sugar-free bars and drinks. I don’t know how good this is, but I think it’s definitely better than the occasional muffin or lemonade from the store. Although if I really want to, I don’t deny myself that – it’s better not to forcefully restrict myself so that I don’t have a breakdown.

If you get regular sleep and eat mostly healthy food, it has a big impact on the quantity and quality of your riding. The more “right” I start the day, the longer I can ride, jump higher and do more difficult tricks than usual.

If we talk about “classic” bad habits in the form of alcohol, nicotine and other substances, this has bypassed me – I have never tried anything “harmful” or forbidden in my entire life. I have always disliked the smell of alcohol and tobacco, so I am completely indifferent to alcohol and smoking.

I sincerely don’t understand why people buy cigarettes for themselves, I don’t see any sense in it and I don’t see any benefit. In fact, smokers get themselves hooked on a strange habit that spoils their health and gives nothing good in return.

As for alcohol, I understand the point of an altered and relaxed state of body and mind, but I would never want to be in the shoes of an intoxicated person. I find it much more enjoyable to socialize with sober people.

I was often the only non-drinker at parties, and it didn’t embarrass me in any way. Yes, of course, many times I was persuaded to drink “for company”, but I did not want so much that no one managed to persuade me.

To buy alcohol or cigarettes, you don’t have to be something special, but to be able to give it up and try to achieve something in sports, in studies, in work is really great and requires effort! It is cool to achieve, learn, develop, and dependence on what spoils your health is not cool – it is weakness.

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